This is the first in a series of blog posts where I imagine meeting my future self – 25 years from now at the age of 76.
This instalment involves an optimistic view of longevity and healthy aging. This post assumes I worked diligently on my longevity habits, making sure I was in the best possible place to benefit from whatever future breakthroughs may bring.
I’ll continue the conversation soon – then add a darker version where I did not take my own advice, and saw others get the benefits as I battled chronic conditions.
Needless to say; these blog posts are creative, rather than explaining the science.
If you met your future self today, would it be with your head held high that you did your best to make sure you stayed healthy?
Longevity Habits: Meeting the Age Well Mark of 25 Years from Now
Today I met my future self.
It was me all right. The wink gave it away, the tight, wry smile. His small brown eyes met mine, sharing a youth full of crazy mistakes. They acknowledged our dreams (unrealised and otherwise) along the way.
‘Mark,’ my 76-year-old-self began, ‘we made it, to 2047 at least’.
Other than the grey hair and some added wrinkles, future Mark was looking good. He stood with the same straight back, and wore the same black trousers, boots and a shirt that has always been my ‘uniform.’
‘I remember your doubts.’
‘You were constantly nagged by that inner voice, unsure that the sacrifices would truly be worth it – even as you fine-tuned your healthy aging habits.’
‘It was sugar that was the hardest to quit, along with that weakness for those delicious French Reds.’
My current-self smiled. ‘You still drink?’ I said.
‘Yeah, just not the whole darn bottle.’
‘And your health?’
‘Great, overall, I mean, I still get infections now and again, though my chip implant warns me to take my DNA matched antivirals before the symptoms start.’
‘My biological age is lower than when we started, at 46’ he said, ‘they fine-tuned the testing along the way, mixing epigenic, functional and brain health.’
‘We slowed aging during the 2020’s, though it was the release of Aginoxylicol-7b in 2035 that really helped’.
Aginoxylicol-7b
‘What’s that?’ I interrupted, excited to hear the news.
‘A new class, they found it protected against almost all cancers, keeping cells young by partial reprogramming, then fast tracked the approval’ he said, ‘It quickly turned out that mixing it with Senolytics, and NAD cycle optimisation tripled the active lifespan of mice.’
While I was keen to dig deeper into the scientific advances, there was something more important.
‘What about E (my wife)?’ I blurted.
‘I knew you’d ask,’ he grinned, ‘she is doing great, off at yoga right now – looking as young as when you wrote this post in 2022, and bursting with energy. Her career took off, though there is still plenty of time to enjoy travel, family, and friends.’
‘And do you…’ I left the question halfway, unsure of whether it was appropriate, even to ask your future self.
76-year-old Mark just winked.
Society-Wide Changes
Quickly recovering, I was curious to know about how well Aginoxylicol-7b was received. Was it universally accepted in 2035? Does everyone take it in 2047?
‘There was serious pushback at first’ future-Mark began, ‘protesters were blocking the drone-taxi ports and governments were threatening to ban it.’
‘It was the cancer prevention that saw it accepted, the effect was so profound that governments which tried to ban it were scared of being voted out.’
‘Disease reduction saves us £5 trillion a year worldwide here in the 2040’s, a UN mandate ensures that half of those savings go to clean energy and environmental projects – which got the Green lobby on board’.
I interrupted, ‘How long do you expect to live from here?’
‘Nobody knows’
‘It has not been tested?’ I asked.
‘In animals, in primates, via epigenic clocks – yes.’ Future Mark looked serious, ‘I’m fit and healthy, and expect to stay this way for 30 more years – maybe longer. We don’t know yet whether something else in our cellular makeup will go wrong later, even with Aginoxylicol-7b and a decades of research – the complexity of life is far from solved’.
‘Oh, and the funding has exploded,’ Mark added, ‘and I mean 100-fold from 2022, ‘with aging now considered a disease, a wall of money appeared, attracting the brightest minds worldwide to the longevity field’.
Ethics: Did Billionaires do Better?
‘What about the billionaires, will they live to 250?’ I asked….
To be continued… (so don’t forget to bookmark the Age Well Times today!)